My Very Own Vampire Romance
by iluvedward55
Summary: I hope you like it! Rate and message with suggestions! and I'm not done with Chapter 10 yet. lol. This site is just being difficult.


**My Very Own Vampire Romance**

I'm NOT trying to copy Twilight. That book just gave me inspiration. I'm sorry if this is offensive to anyone and if it is then you can just message me and I'll try to do what I can. Also, like I said, I honestly am not copying Twilight. I will use some ideas from there but it's not like this is going to get published. Thanks for reading and hope you like it!!!

**Chapter One**

I figured my life was just as ordinary as everyone else's. Ha, how wrong I was. I didn't know it yet but my life was about to go from me being a tan, sporty, volleyball player in Gaithersburg, Maryland to an outcast.  
"Gooood morning DC district! It's 6:30 AM and you're here with me, Jonas Bernard!" I sat up and turned my alarm off. "Ugghhh." I groaned. It wasn't fair that I had to get up this early during the summer. I was leaving today at 8 but I had to get to the airport by 10 while the rest of my family is leaving at 12 to get to the airport at 1. We were all moving to Forks, Washington. It was going to be a LONG flight, going from Gaithersburg, Maryland all the way to Washington State. But I was looking forward to it. I wanted a fresh start away from this place. I really didn't like Gaithersburg. My freshman year of High School wasn't a pleasant one. I hoped my sophomore year would be better. I'm sure it would be easier because I didn't know anyone; clean start. I got up out of my make-shift bed that consisted of a sleeping bag with a matt underneath it for more cushion. I was so tired. It took all my strength to get up, I hadn't slept that well the night before not only because the bed was awful but because I was so excited/anxious about moving. Of course I felt bad for leaving my friends that I had here but I looked forward to the new people I was going to meet. I got up, looked around my room and sighed. The room that I was in wasn't my room at all. This room was painted a dull white, kind of like an eggshell white. My room had been a bright shade of green; it was colorful and full of life. I always had things on my walls. They were always covered in posters of the Harry Potter cast, Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in their Pirates of The Caribbean outfits and brightly colored volleyball posters. There were also awards from swim teams, volleyball teams and softball teams, pictures of me and my friends in those photo booth things when we would go to the mall, ticket stubs from movies and plays that I went to with friends and boyfriends. I just had a whole bunch of little things like that. My bed was also missing. I had a bed full of stuffed animals from over the years. I lined them up on the side of my bed and they were everywhere. It gave my room personality but now there was nothing on the walls. No posters, no awards, no pictures, no bed full of animals. Nothing was there accept for my pathetic excuse for a bed and a little alarm clock next to my head. I looked at it and it said 6:37. I had to get up and get going. I wouldn't want to miss my flight. You see Terri (my mom who I call by her first name because we really don't get along) couldn't get 4 seats together for us on the same flight. So instead she had to settle for 1 seat on one flight and 3 on another. My dad was going to be the one to go up there alone but I volunteered. I thought it would be good for me to fly by myself for once. My dad and Terri agreed so now I'm flying there alone. I wasn't scared of flying alone. I was happy that I would be able to get away from Terri and my little brother Nicholas. I was ready.

I hopped into the shower and washed my hair and body and hopped back out again. Not wanting to take a long shower to make up for lost time. I dried myself off and went to the room I was staying in and changed into the outfit I left out for today since everything else was packed away. I was in green Hollister sweat pants and a white tank top. I blow dried and straightened my naturally wavy hair, put on some eye liner and TONS of mascara. I was a huge mascara junky! I loved the stuff. After I was done with my makeup I got all the rest of my things together and met my dad downstairs. He offered to drive me to the airport. He was just sitting at the fold out table we were temporarily using for the morning; it was our neighbors. "Are you ready to leave?" I sighed and looked around our almost empty kitchen. I was really going to miss this house but I was ready for a new start. "Yes. Are you?" The question caught him off guard. It took him a little while to answer but I saw on his face that he was looking for the right words to say. "No." he answered honestly. "The truth is I love it here. I don't want to move to Washington State. I'm so sorry we have to do this Marissa." As he said this he pulled me in for a big bear hug. "It's not your fault. I understand that we have to do this for your job and you know I'm kind of glad we're moving. I mean it gives me the chance to start fresh. I'm looking forward to our new lives in Forks." I didn't throw in that I wanted to go only because I believed fully in the existence of vampires and in Stephanie Meyers' Twilight, that's where Bella moved to and she found her soul mate Edward Cullen. I only hoped it would be the same for me. Then my dad let go and we loaded into the Ford SUV that we were borrowing from our neighbors. They've been the biggest help to us always. They were also on the list of people I felt bad about leaving here. We got into the truck with my carry on and my suitcase. While we were driving there my dad went through what I was supposed to do, again. "Remember that you have a transfer flight in Seattle. Then from there you go to Port Angeles and you wait for us there." I nodded not really paying attention. Dad and Terri have been going over this with me for days now. I have it memorized. We drove up to the passenger drop off and my dad kissed me on my head and wished me luck. I knew I wouldn't need it. I was fairly capable of flying across the United States alone. I mean come on I was 14 after all. About to be 15; I was born in September so I was almost always the youngest in my grade with the few exceptions of kids born in October, November and December. I boarded the flight no problem and got myself settled in my first class seat. The seat was courtesy for my dad from his work but since I took his place, I got the seat. I liked it a lot. There really wasn't anyone on this flight anyway. I didn't have to worry about the person next to me and I was happy. There were only about 3 other people in first class with me. But we were all spread out nicely. I turned on my iPod to Bella's Lullaby from the Twilight Soundtrack. The movie had come out last November and it was alright but nothing compared to the book. The book was my life, my passion. Stephanie Meyer is my idol, her and JK Rowling of course. My 2 obsessions; The Twilight Saga and Harry Potter. Once I had my iPod on my favorite song on repeat 1, I picked up Twilight and started to read it. This was the 6th time I've read Twilight. I love this book that much; so much that I normally read it in 2 days. So just in case I finished Twilight on the plane, I brought New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn with me.

I didn't get to finish the book because I fell asleep. I was awaken by one of the aids nudging me gently "Excuse me sweetheart, but it's about 15 minutes before we land. We advise all passengers to get ready for landing." She looked very tired. "Thank you." She smiled at me and I smiled back at her. She turned and left to go to the back of the plane to check on the other passengers. I looked out my window and found that I couldn't see the ground, we were in clouds. When we landed it was raining. I knew it would be and I was sort of excited. I loved everything about the rain. I loved being in the rain, the sound of it, and the smell of it, just everything. I looked at the ticket for my transfer flight to Port Angeles. It said that my flight boarded at 2. I looked at the clock on the wall of the terminal. It said 12:15. I realized that my dad, Terri and Nicholas would just be boarding their flight now but I tried to not think of them as much as possible. I had a long time to wait. My terminal was D4 for the short flight to Port Angeles and I was at terminal C8. I didn't have that far to walk but I decided I should get settled before I decided to wander. As I walked to my terminal I looked around to see what they had for food places. I saw a McDonalds, a Starbucks and other fast food places. I sighed not really wanting McDonalds or any other fast food for that matter so I just decided that I would get some coffee and a bagel. I arrived at my terminal at 12:25 and looked to make sure my flight didn't get canceled or delayed. I read on the board that my flight was leaving on time. I smiled to myself and went back to the food court to get my coffee and bagel. The cashier at Starbucks was very nice considering where she worked. She was tall, I guessed that she was wearing heels, had unnatural blond hair, a fake tan and too bright of lip stick on but she looked happy. She actually started small talk with me. "How are you today hun?" She smiled at me. "I've never been better actually." I smiled at how truly honest my words were. "Well that's just wonderful." She handed me my coffee smiling. "Have a good day." I took my coffee and gave her the money. "You too." I left with my coffee and bagel in a giddy mood. I went back to the gate and looked back at the clock. It was 12:50. I still had a lot of time to kill. I turned on my cell phone to see if my dad or anyone else had left me any messages. I had my phone on vibrate and it buzzed angrily in my hand. I looked at it and I had 3 voice mails and 5 missed calls. "Jeeze." I said mostly to myself. I called my voice mail curiously. A woman's voice came on. "Please enter your password then press pound." I did as I was told and listened. The woman's voice came again. "You have 3 new voice messages. First voice message" I waited. "Hi Marissa!!! It's Giulia! I just wanted to say I'm going to miss you!!! And you HAVE to call me when you get to Forks!!! I want to talk to you before….well I don't know but you have to call me!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! BYE!" There was a click. I laughed at my hyper best friend; she was always in a good mood. The woman's voice came on again. "If you would like to delete this message press 7" I pressed 7. "Message deleted. Next voice message" I waited. "Hi Marissa, its Sourosh." I groaned. This was a guy that I was most excited about leaving. We've been on and off for about a year now and he would always hurt me and I would always stupidly go back to him. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry about everything and I'm really going to miss you when you move, which you didn't tell me by the way. But anyway yeah. I know you don't really wanna talk to me but please call me back. I think we need to talk." I laughed to myself and erased the message before he was done. I wasn't planning on calling him back. Ever. "Message deleted. Next message" I waited again. "Hi sweetie its dad. Our flight has been canceled and so your mom is trying to get us on another flight. But by the looks of it the earliest we'll be able to get there is tomorrow. I gave you enough money for a cab when you get to Port Angeles so that's what I want you to do. You know I already went over to the house to get all our furniture in and settled so I have a key to the house on the eave of the door. That will let you in the house. We have some bread in the refrigerator and I think there's some pasta in the cabinet. If not, you have money to order yourself a pizza. I know the house might be a little scary at first but you'll be fine. Your room is at the top of the tower. You'll understand when you get there. I'm very sorry honey and we'll see you when we can. I love you!" Then I heard a click. "To delete this message press 7" I pressed 7. I looked across from me at the wall. I was mortified. I was going to be home alone, in a new house, in a new town where I didn't know anyone. I had to admit to myself that I was scared now. I wasn't planning on being there alone for _at least_ a night. My dad did say that they were _trying_ to get there by tomorrow but that he didn't know….what was I going to do? I mentally slapped myself. 'Get a grip.' I thought to myself. 'It's not like the house is haunted. And I do like to be home alone. It gives me some me time. But it's not like I've had enough me time all today.' I argued with myself and looked up at the clock. It said 1:20. I looked back at my phone and read the missed calls. The one was Giulia; my best friend, Sourosh; the stupid guy I was trying to get over and who I refused to talk to now that I have a new life, my dad, and the other 2 were from my friend but pretty much older sister Emily. I didn't really want to talk to any of them right now. I just wanted some time to sort out what I was supposed to do when I got to Port Angeles. My dad had said that he gave me enough money for a cab and pizza. I looked in my carryon in my wallet for the money I had left. He was right, before I had left, the night before he had handed me $200 for emergencies. Then I thought he was crazy for giving me that much but now I was grateful. I reminded myself to thank him when he got home. I ran through my procedure in my head; I was to get off the plane, get my luggage, grab a cab and head to my address-932 Pointer Ridge Dr. Forks, Washington, pay the cabbie, grab the key from the eave, get in the house, look around and get settled. It sounded like a perfectly easy plan to me. As I finished my lunch, I looked at the clock in confusion; it said 1:50. 'Where had the time gone?' I asked myself. 'Seems like the last time I looked it was 1:20.....had I read the clock wrong the last time? Am I reading it wrong now?' I stared at the clock and made sure that it really did say 1:50. By the time I had made sure I was reading it right, it said 2:00. "Attention all passengers riding flight 667," I looked at my ticket and that was my flight. "We are going to start boarding the plane now. I would like all first class passengers to come and board first. Thank you." I got my carry on and got in line to board the flight. There was hardly any one there so the line wasn't long at all. I found I was on the plane in less than 5 minuets.

Again there was no one next to me on the flight but I wouldn't have minded so much if there was someone sitting next to me on this flight; it was only an hour flight. I made sure my cell phone was turned off and put on my iPod and fell asleep again. I was woken a second time by a flight attendant nudging me gently. "Sorry to wake you Miss but we're about 10 minuets form landing and we advise all passengers to get ready." She smiled at me. "Oh, thank you." I said and smiled back at her. Then she walked to the back of the plane to check on the other people. I looked down at my hands to find that they were shaking. I took a deep breath to try and calm myself. "It's going to be alright. It's ok." I told myself in hope that everything would be fine.

When we landed it was raining. "Yes!" I whispered to myself. I was so excited and I smiled at my new found confidence that nothing would, no nothing _could_ go wrong. I went to the baggage claim and, lucky me, my suitcase was one of the first ones off the flight. My luck just continued when I walked outside to find an old couple getting out of a cab. I fast walked to get to the cab before they left. I got there in plenty of time; the couple still had to get a few more things out of the back. When they were done they paid the cabbie and I got in the back seat of the car. "Where to Miss?" He asked politely. "Um, 932 Pointer Ridge Dr. Forks." I hoped he would know where that was because I had no idea where it was myself. Then I realized that he had a GPS system, I let out a sigh of relief. I was pretty sure he heard me because he gave me a funny look in the rear view mirror. I just gave him an awkward smile and he gave me an awkward smile back. It took about a half an hour to get to my street. All the while I was looking outside at the lush green world that was my home now. I saw a couple houses here and there with the exception of some stores on the one side of the road right off the free way. I saw the houses grow further and further apart when we pulled up to a huge house. I was confused. "Are you sure you have the right house?" I asked as he started to get out of the car to get my suitcase for me. He looked confused and went back to the front of the car and checked the GPS. "You said 932 Pointer Ridge Dr., right?" I took out the piece of paper that I had the address written down on and frowned. "Yeah that's what I said." I looked at the huge house in complete confusion. "Well here it is." He said with a shrug and handed me my suitcase. I thanked him and handed him the money I owed him and watched him drive away. I turned back around to stare at the house that was my home. I told myself that if there wasn't a key on the eave, I would call my dad and see what was up. But alas when I checked the eave, there was a key there. I took it and unlocked the door. I gasped when I walked in. It was amazing!

**Chapter Two**

I walked inside and almost dropped my suitcase. I couldn't believe that I actually lived here! It was so gorgeous! When I first walked in all I saw was this HUGE chandelier. It looked like an oversized spider of diamonds. Then to the right of the chandelier was a stair case. This, also, was amazingly big. It was wide at the bottom and got narrower as you looked up. I saw that the walls of the entrance hall were a deep blue, almost navy blue in a way. To the left of the chandelier was a big dinning room filled with pictures of our family over the years along with Nicholas's and my school pictures. Here the walls were a deep purple. I found myself growing more and more embarrassed over the fact that I was such a geek when I was little; braces, glasses, the awkward adolescence stage. I did NOT want to go back to those days. I turned and went to the room that was behind the chandelier; the kitchen. It was gorgeous! It had deep brown colored wood floors, an extremely high ceiling, a beautiful stained glass table and shiny silver plates and silverware already set at the table. I gapped at it; the beauty of the place was so overwhelming. I finally got over the fact that this _was_ the place where I was going to be living for the next couple of years until I moved out. I went back to the front door, grabbed my suitcase and headed up the staircase towards my room.

I looked into every room; there were a LOT of rooms, and saw that they were all beautiful but dark somehow. I realized that they all were deep blue, deep purple or deep green. I remembered that Terri was going through a phase of having every wall painted dark colors. I secretly thought that she might be depressed but I honestly couldn't care less if she was or wasn't. I personally liked the dark colors. I wasn't a sad person or depressed or anything of the sort. I was ecstatic to be here and I was just so happy, but something about the dark intrigued me. I was fascinated by everything and anything having to do with the night or dark. One of my favorite things to do is study night life. How animals survived at night and how they just lived made me so curious as to what was really out there. Another thing that was so amazing to me about the night is that it made it even easier for me to truly believe in vampires. I loved the very thought of them.

I was so engulfed in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed that I was climbing stairs again. I looked around and saw that I was climbing a dark and spirally staircase. I looked at the walls and touched them. It startled me to find that it was a brick wall. I could hear the suitcases' wheels bang against the cold hard stairs. I now understood what my dad had meant about the tower. I was now about to enter my room. I started to walk faster wanting to see what my dad had done to my room. I got to the top of the staircase and opened the closed door. I stepped into my room took one look at it and found I had to use my suitcase as a prop to hold me up or I would've fallen to the floor. It was perfect! The walls were the exact same shade of green that is the base color for Mountain Dew cans (my favorite pop), the boarder had green snakes weaving in and out of vines, my king size bed was filled with green, black and silver pillows, the comforter was the same shade of green that was on the walls, my overhead fan had black blades and a dark brown body, the doors were the same shade of green that everything else was, and the carpet was black. I moved across my bedroom to the bathroom. I almost fainted again when I went in. The tub and shower were a lighter green but not much lighter than the walls in my room. The sink and counter top were the same green as the tub and so was the toilet. The rugs were the same color as the tub and the floor had little square tiles that were white and green. It was amazing. I was going to thank my dad so many times I would get annoying. It was everything I had asked for and more. I was obsessed with green, black, silver and snakes and I had told my dad that I always wanted my room to be decked out with green, black, silver and snakes. So when we were getting this house ready for us to move here we were having people come and paint and do all this stuff and my dad had asked me what I wanted my room to look like and I had told him exactly green, black, silver, snakes and there it is. I mean I was excited to see if it was what I wanted but I didn't think that he would be able to get it as perfect as he did. I walked out of the bathroom and saw that to the left of the bathroom was a walk in closet and to the left of that a black bureau. I walked in the closet and it looked almost as big as the room itself. I strolled through my unusually big closet and saw that all of my clothes, with the exceptions of the ones that I still had in my suitcase, were all hung up nicely buy color. 'Wow' I thought to myself. 'They really went all out up here.' I went back into my room still in shock and sat on the bed. I looked across to the other side of the room and was happy to see dark green curtains covering, what looked like windows. I walked over and pulled the curtains back. I was right about the windows and decided to open them to see what kind of a view I got. When I opened the windows, I was shocked to see that they opened enough for me to fit through them and when I looked out, there was a balcony. "AHHH!!!" I screamed. I couldn't believe it! I've always wanted my own balcony. I walked out onto it and I had the most amazing view of the forest. I saw that my window faced out towards the front of the house. I could see the road and another house far down the road. It wasn't raining yet but the sky threatened to storm so I went back inside and closed the windows. Just then I heard, what I thought to be the door bell, ring. I ran down the tower staircase and then ran down the other flight of stairs. I heard the door bell ring once more and I opened the door in a rush. When I did a gust of air came from behind me and blew my hair in every which way. I saw my visitor for a brief second before I heard a quiet "Excuse me." And the stranger was gone. I looked up and down the road to see if I could see anyone running away but I didn't see anything except the trees swaying in the wind. He was gone so fast that I wasn't quite sure if I'd imagined the whole thing. I must have because the person I saw couldn't have been real. He was too gorgeous. I didn't get that good of a look at him but I saw enough. He was tall, he had black hair that fell limply in his eyes, he was wearing a navy blue jacket, dark wash jeans and his skin was pale. But that wasn't what captured my attention; his eyes. When I looked up after the gust of wind his eyes were black. Pitch black. And his expression was livid. Like he was angry at me or saw something he found repulsive. I stood there staring at the place where he was just standing. I turned around slowly, walked back into the house and closed the door. I was so confused. What had just happened?

I went back upstairs to my room and went into the bathroom. I checked myself to make sure that I looked decent. I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I had long light brown hair down to just below my bust. It was thick and it had a little bit of natural wave to it. My skin was still mostly tan from the summer that I'd spent in the sun and I had big blue eyes that were turning green to my pleasure. Terri's eyes were blue when she was younger but she said that when she grew to about my age that they turned green. I was happy to know that the same thing would happen to me. I also had very clear skin. All my acne from younger days were gone and I never got any pimples anymore. I was only 5'3 but I wore a size 2 in pants and I wore a 32C bra. I made sure nothing was in my teeth. Then I thought that maybe it was my smell. I smelled my clothes, they smelled like my favorite body spray; vanilla. I smelled my pits; they smelled like my deodorant, which happened to smell like my body spray. I was still trying to think of reasons of why he would just leave like that. Maybe he had the wrong house or something. I didn't know. I just decided to give up and unpack my suitcase.

It was about an hour since the bizarre incident with the guy when I heard the door bell ring again. My head shot up in an instant. "No" I whispered to myself. "It can't be him. No, it wouldn't be him." But I just couldn't convince myself. I ran down both flights of stairs again, but this time when I reached for the door I did it slowly, not wanting to upset him again. I did all this not even knowing if it was him either. I couldn't take the suspense anymore and I opened the door. It was him. But this time there was no trace of anger or shock in his expression. Come to think of it I don't even know what his expression was. It was like he almost smirked at me when I answered the door. I cautiously walked outside to greet him. He smiled at me and held out his perfect hand. "Hello, I'm James." I took his hand and shook it. "Marissa" We were closer now and I could smell him. He smelled so good but not like cologne, I couldn't quite grasp what it was. I looked up into his eyes; he was a good head and a half taller than me but his eyes. I distinctly remember his eyes being pitch black, now they were a bright emerald green. I don't know what my face portrayed but he looked at me hurt. I blushed and quickly took a step back. I looked at him with an embarrassed smile. He changed his expression also. He looked down and gave me another one of those dazzling smiles. "That's a very nice name." He commented. "Thank you." I felt my face flush again as I answered his compliment. "I also wanted to apologize for the way I acted earlier." He looked like he was in pain. I was confused for a moment before I understood what he was talking about. So it was him that had come earlier. But he looked so different now; his eyes. "Forgive me?" He pleaded in a quiet voice. "Of course, it was nothing. But did you get contacts?" I really wanted to know how his eyes could have changed so quickly. He looked at me in what looked like shock and confusion. "No." He was giving me eye contact. How could he lie so easily? "But before, your eyes were black, now they're green." To my surprise he started laughing. "My eyes have always been green. They're never black." He smiled at me like I had just told a good joke. I sighed. There was no use in trying to get it out of him. I bet he just doesn't feel like he can trust me or something. I tried to glare at him but it didn't work. He just smiled at me and I just couldn't help but smile back. "You have a really nice smile." He complimented as he moved to lean against the pillar he was standing next to. "Thank you. So do you." I put on my most flirty smile I could muster and realized that I was being a horrible hostess. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Would you like to come in?" I was mortified. "Sure. Thanks." He smirked and walked in.

**Chapter Three**

I walked in after him and closed the door behind me. I turned to notice that he was looking around our house. "Wow, you guys really changed this place." He turned back to look at me. I was so confused. How could he possibly know what we did and didn't change? "Huh?" I asked. He smiled. "This place looks a lot different since the last time I was here." I was still confused. "I knew the people who lived here before." He explained. "You guys have everything all changed up but it looks nice." I followed his glance and he was staring at the grand piano we had there. Funny, I hadn't noticed that before. I don't know why we would have a piano. Nobody in the family played. Maybe it came with the house or something. It was in the corner of our huge lobby/main hall way. "Do you play?" I asked eager for the answer. "A little." He shrugged as he moved in the other direction to our dining room. 'Oh great.' I thought. Now he gets to see my painfully hideous adolescence pictures. I walked a couple paces behind him as he walked into the room. I cringed as I saw that he was looking at the most painful picture; me in the 6th grade. "Ugh." I groaned. "What? You don't like it?" He asked. I looked at him, I thought he might be joking or something, but when I looked up, he was serious. "Um, no? You do?" I said a little surprised. He frowned. "Why not? I think they're cute." He looked at the picture and turned back to me. "Those pictures are so ugly! Ugh seeing me through my awkward stages; not fun." He laughed again and the sound sounded like a professional chorus singing a beautiful song. "Well I like them." He smiled at me. "Thanks." was all that I could manage to get out. He started walking out of the room; I thought I should try to start a conversation. "So you said you knew the people who lived here before?" He froze where he was. "Yes." He seemed hesitant. His whole body went rigid. I could tell that this was a topic he didn't really want to talk about. I tired to put on my most innocent face that I had. I didn't want to get him mad again. "Have you heard why they had to move?" He asked me, his face changing from looking hesitant to having a slight menacing look to it and of course he was smirking. "No." I answered honestly. "Well I guess I could tell you….if you like scary stories." He continued to smirk and I almost forgot how to breathe. I smiled. "I love them." He moved towards the stairs and stopped at the bottom of them. "Where are your parents?" He asked randomly. I stared at him. He was so confusing. "Um, they're coming later. I think maybe sometime tomorrow at the earliest." I went to stand next to him as he looked up the stairs. "Why do you ask?" I was curious. "I was just wondering because you didn't call to them when you invited me in." I blushed as I realized that he must've thought I was trying to hide him from them. I saw that he was staring intently up the stairs. "What are you thinking?" He asked me still looking up the stairs. "I was just wondering why you were staring up the stairs like that." He looked back at me and stared deeply into my eyes for a while. I had to remember how to inhale and exhale. "Do you still have the tower?" He asked me darkly. "Yeah, it's my room now." His eyes widened. "You live up there?" He asked incredulously. "Yes," Jeeze again I was confused with him. "Would you like to see it?" I was scared that he would say no thinking that I was just trying to get him in my room….which I was but not to do anything like that… "May I?" he asked eagerly. "Of course." I smiled and led him up the stairs.

We went up to the next floor and he looked in some of the rooms and frowned. "Your house is kind of…..dark." He stopped at my parents' room, the room right before the stairs started to my room. "Yeah, Terri's sort of going through this phase of all the walls having to be dark green, blue or purple. I mean I kind of like it but only because I'm obsessed with green." I shrugged. "I think she's depressed but I could care less." I said as I started to lead him up the next flight of stairs. "Who's Terri?" He sounded like he was honestly interested but he could just be trying to distract me from the conversation about why the people who owned the house before us had to move. I sighed. "My mother." I said with a little more acid to my tone than I meant to. He looked offended. "How could you not care if she's depressed if she's your mother?"

"Well, see, Terri and I don't really get along that great, and I mean when I say 'Not that great' I mean not great at ALL. I honestly think she hates me." He gave me a reproachful look. "No I'm serious." And I really was serious.

"What in the world would make you think that?"

"Well…" I started and I could tell that he knew it was going to be a somewhat long story but that was okay because there were a lot of stairs. "Terri and I had been getting in a lot of fights around, like, last September and then there was this one huge fight that pushed us both over the edge. You see we're so much a like that we clash. For example, we're both stubborn like I don't know what, and when we got in the huge fight about nothing really, we were both too stubborn to apologize or forgive. After that it's just gone down hill from there. She only cooks dinner for my dad and little brother and I have to make my own, she won't let me eat with them, she doesn't bring me anywhere special when the family goes, she doesn't ever call me her daughter, she doesn't even call me Marissa. It's mostly either "that person" or "it" or something of that nature. She doesn't give me birthday presents or Christmas presents, she doesn't ever talk to me, one time she even tried to get me to pay rent and she tried to get away with not putting me in our Christmas card last year. When my dad found out he was furious with her. He always steps in and sticks up for me. He kind of keeps the peace so to speak." I finished.

By the time I was finished with my story we were at the top of the stairs. I opened the door for him and let him walk in front of me. Again I closed the door behind us and watched him look around. "Wow they really cleaned this place up." He observed. "What do you mean?" I had thought that this room had always been a bedroom. He turned to look back at me. "You might want to have a seat." He warned me and motioned towards the bed. I walked over to my king size bed, jumped on it, grabbed one of the silver pillows that covered my bed and crossed my legs Indian style. I was so eager to hear his story. "This house used to belong to a family who were rumored to be vampires." He paused to look at my reaction to the word. I don't know what my face looked like but I knew how I felt. I was ecstatic! To be living in a house that was previously owned by vampires! Amazing! He smirked and went on with his story. "It was also rumored that they persuaded humans to come up to this very tower so they could feed on the willing prey. This tower used to be a dungeon if you will; a fortress of evil. See these walls are sound proof. When you're in here, you can't hear what's going on outside or even downstairs and when you're downstairs, you can't hear what's going on up here so no one could hear the screams of the victims. These walls were brick before and so were the floors. That room over there," he nodded to my closet. "Is where it was said that they would put the corpses after they'd sucked the life out of them. And in there," He turned and nodded to my bathroom. "Was where it was said that they would get rid of the evidence, were they would clean up the mess. They would wash everything down. But they had to move because more and more people started to get suspicious. They couldn't afford to get found out about so they had to sell the place." He was an amazing story teller. I had goose bumps. He had been looking at the door to the bathroom while he was saying the last part. When he looked back at me, his eyes were wary. I suddenly remembered the fact that he knew the people who'd lived here and that he had been in this house before. I decided to ask him, but I was hesitant. I didn't know if he would want me to know if it was true or not. Because after all he did say that these things were _rumors._ I looked down and looked back up at him. "Are the rumors true? Because I mean you did say that you knew these people…or vampires." I was afraid of his response. But he just sat at the end of my bed and sighed. "I did know them, and yes. The rumors are true." I had to close my mouth because it had fallen open. I quickly regained my voice. I tried to sound casual. "What did they look like?"

"Have you read Twilight?" He looked at my carry on bag that lay opened on my bed with Twilight and New Moon sticking out of it. He chuckled. "7 times." I admitted. He laughed even harder now. "So I guess you're familiar with what the nomads look like then?" I nodded. "They looked much the same; pale and red eyed. Whenever they were asked about their unusual eye color, they'd just tell people that they wore color contacts. They were also called 'in humanly beautiful.' Many people thought that they were to be models." He looked at me. I wasn't stupid. I knew what he was getting at. "You're a vampire." I whispered. It wasn't a question. "Yes."

** Chapter Four**

We sat there for a little while, just looking at each other. To my embarrassment my stomach grumbled. I could feel my face flush. "I'm sorry. Do you mind if I order pizza?" I got up to get the phone but he already had it in his hand. "No, not at all. I forgot how often you have to eat. I'm not used to being with a human for this long." He started to move towards me to hand me the phone but then he just started to dial a number. "You know the number to the pizza place?" Why would he need to know the number when he doesn't eat pizza? "I get bored at night sometimes and I memorize numbers." He looked serious enough but then he started laughing. "It was a joke. I saw the number on your refrigerator." He paused and I could hear on the other line that the place picked up. "Hello, I would like a medium pizza with…." He looked at me for my answer. "Bacon, sausage and black olives please." I responded. He repeated my order into the receiver. "Thank you." He ended and hung up. He looked back at me and restarted the conversation that my stomach so rudely interrupted. "You knew even before I gave you hints that I was a vampire. I could see it in your eyes, how did you know?" He was really curious. I made sure I thought my answer through before I said it. "I'm not really sure." I said honestly. "But I think it was when you came back with green eyes and not black. I know what I saw and you did have black eyes the first time I saw you. There were other things that tipped me off too. I remembered, when you left, I didn't see anyone running; you were too fast for me to see. You were gone within a second of sight. Also you're pale, even for Forks. The way you walk and talk, the way you hold yourself. I mean the list goes on. But there was one thing that stood out above all the rest; the way you looked at me. I've never had anyone ever look at me the way you do. You look at me in a way that's kind, soft and loving but at the same time you look at me like I'm causing you physical pain. You try to hide it but I know you are. The very smell of my blood, my pulse through my veins; it tortures you."

"And yet I can't seem to leave and stay gone, away from the temptation." He cut me off. I could tell if he would've had blood in him, it would be boiling. "But I don't want you to leave. Both you and Edward Cullen need to understand that Bella and I don't want you to leave! We need you to stay. Without you we die. Maybe not literally but inside we die every moment that we're not with you! You can't go! You mustn't! You have to promise me James that you'll never leave! Ever! I don't care if it's good for me or not! I really don't care! I love you and I need you to stay! You can't go." I whispered that last part. He reached over to rub my cheek and I found that it was slippery. When had I started to cry? Crap…what had I just said?!?! I looked down at my hands which were still clutching the pillow. "You can't go." I repeated. He sighed, reached over and lifted my head to look at him. "It's not possible for me to do that. I know you love me and I love you, I've loved you since the moment Rebeka said that you were coming." I looked up and I was startled to see that he had moved really close to me. I stared at his liquid emerald eyes; they were soft and melting. I couldn't pull myself away. His eyes flickered to the door and then back to me in a half a second then the door bell rang. He was up and gone within the second it had rung. While he was getting whoever was at the door I took that chance to compose myself. I wiped under my eyes and found that I was crying a LOT. It overwhelmed me to try and process what he had said all at once so I focused on the sentence in pieces. The first part he had said "I know you love me and I love you" That was the part that I couldn't get past. How could he love me back? I didn't deserve him. I forced myself to push that part of the sentence to the side so I could focus on the last part; "I've loved you since Rebeka said that you were coming." Who was Rebeka? I didn't have time to try and figure out who that was because at that moment he was back in my room, on my bed with a pizza in his hands. "Thank you." I said as I grabbed a slice of pizza from the box that he had set down in front of me. "So who's Rebeka?" I asked trying to move away from the topic that we were just on. He smirked at me. "I'll talk and you eat." I nodded and took another bite of pizza. "Rebeka is my adoptive sister. You might know her better as Alice." I swallowed my bite before I allowed my mouth to open in shock. "Wait, you mean like Alice Cullen? From Twilight?" Holy crap! "I said I would talk and you eat. I was getting to that part." He scolded me. I took another bite obediently. "Yes, exactly like Alice Cullen. I have a Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Emmet, Jasper and Alice. All the characters from Twilight are based on my family. You see Connor, whose character is Carlisle, and Stephanie Meyer are great friends. And yes, Stephanie is a vampire too. She loved our family so much that she decided to tell our story. It only got better when Rebeka told us about you. Stephanie was ecstatic to start writing. Rebeka told her everything about you and how we were going to end up. She helped Stephanie write the books. But of course the future isn't set in stone so Stephanie had to make some changes to the plot. She also changed your character quite a bit just to make the book a little more….she used the word interesting but I think your just fine the way you are." I felt my brow pull together in confusion and he explained. "For instance, Bella Swan is extremely clumsy, you are not. And I know this because Bella couldn't have run down two flights of stairs and not have broken anything. Also you look a lot different than she makes you in the book; you're a hell of a lot more attractive than Bella will ever be, even when she is a vampire." He smirked at me. "Thank you." I smiled back. "So Twilight is our story?"

"Yes. Well sort of, she did change all the names and of course she had to put a lot of filler into the book,"

"Like?" I interrupted him

"Like how Edward has to explain everything to Bella, we don't have to worry about that because you know everything from the book so we don't have to waist anytime on that." He went on.

I grabbed another piece of pizza I hadn't realized how hungry I was. "Except for now of course." I took a bite and chewed thoughtlessly. "Yes. Do you have any questions?" He already knew the answer to that question. "Yes I do. Tell me about your family. What are they're real names? Does Rebeka and who ever is Jasper have the same 'special powers' as they do in the book? Can you read minds? Can you not read mine?" All the questions came out in a flood; I was surprised that he could understand me. He laughed. "Carlisle-Connor, Esme-Sarah, Rosalie-Jessica, Emmet-Pogue, Jasper-Kaleb, Alice-Rebeka and Edward-Me. Yes, we all still have our special talents; Rebeka with the future telling, Kaleb with his emotion sensing and me with my mind reading. No, I can't read your mind. But like it says in the book, it's only you that I can't hear." He frowned. "Oh." Was all I was able to think of to say. But it didn't take him long to get over it because his smirk returned shortly after. "Do you have anymore questions for me?" I pondered this. "Yes I do. Is everything in the book about vampires true? Like about the sleeping and the sun and about your eyes turning black when you're thirsty and gold when you're not?"

"No. The part about sleeping is true but Stephanie changed what happens to us in the sun to make us sound more interesting too. We don't glitter or shine in the sun. We can be out in the sun and nothing will happen. But only for short periods of time, if we're out for too long, it burns us. You wouldn't be able to tell that we were in pain but we would be. The color of our eyes when we're thirsty is always black no matter what, but the color of your eyes when we're not thirsty is totally up to what color eyes you had when you changed. For instance my eyes were a hazel color when I was changed but I had a hint of green in them. Connor has a theory that whatever little color you're eyes had, that's what they turn. Like the color is magnified. His eyes were bright blue but they had a little brown around the iris so his eyes are normally brown. But it's different for vampires who drink human blood. The chemicals in the human blood dye the eye to make them red. No one knows why it's only human blood. Even Connor doesn't have a theory for this one. But I think that Stephanie has everyone's eyes turn gold because her soul mate or whatever you want to call it has gold eyes. Anything else?" He sounded like he was rushing me. "Wow. That's amazing! No, I think I'm done for now, but if something pops up I'll let you know." I set the pizza aside and grabbed the pillow again. "Do you have anything to ask me?" I thought he might have some questions. "No I don't think so but there is something I would like to try so that we can move a little faster than Bella and Edward." He started to lean in closer to me and I could feel my heart accelerate.

**Chapter Five**

"Hold still." He instructed me. I did the best I could to stay still. He then placed his head on my chest and listened my hearts reaction. "Hmmm." He looked up at me. "It will be easier now. And unlike Edward, once I listen to your heart and get familiar to its beat, I can do anything I want." He gave me a seductive smirk. "Anything?" I breathed. "Anything." He responded as he moved slowly up from my chest to my neck to my cheek then finally to my lips. His kiss was gentle at first just a sweet closed mouth kiss but then he pulled me in closer and deepened the kiss. His tongue begged for entrance on my lower lip and I refused for a moment but then allowed him in. Our tongues danced together rhythmically. I pulled away out of breath. My head swam with the sweet sent of his breath. I had to remember how to talk before I could ask my question. "Isn't this too much for you? Aren't you thirsty?" I looked into his bright green eyes; there was no trace of thirst in them. Just, either lust or love, I couldn't tell but I was pretty sure it was love. He laughed. "No, I told you that I can do whatever I want now. I'm embracing your sent instead of trying to repel it. It works much better." He winked at me. "Now where were we?" He asked and then pulled me in closer yet again. "Oh I remember." His lips crashed onto mine again. I put my arms around his neck and his arms were around my waist. His hands slowly started to roam my body moving freely and curiously. His lips moved from my lips to my neck. He caressed my cheek then kissed me again. His kiss was so passionate I couldn't think about anything but him and me. It seemed like time and space evaporated all together and I found myself confused when he pulled away. It wasn't the fact that he had pulled away that had me confused, it was the look on his face that confused me. It was sad and had a hint of, what was that; pity? "What's wrong?" His expression scared me. He looked away. "You should turn on the TV."

"What? Why?" He looked back at me and before I knew it I was in his arms and down the stairs in front of the TV. He sat me right next to him and, despite the weather, I was hot and he was cold so I cuddled up next to him. "I wish you would tell me what was going on." I said out loud. "Just brace yourself." He said in a serious and sad tone. "Okay…" Now I was scared. He turned on the TV to the news station. A lady was on talking about a flight that got struck down by lightening or something like that. "The storm took down the flight killing over 100 men, women and children. The police and firemen are at the scene and there's been said to be no survivors." I was so confused. "Why are we watching this?" I asked. I didn't like watching sad news and that was pretty much all news was anyways so I avoided it at all costs. He looked down at me with the deepest sadness in his eyes then looked back up. "This flight was going from Seattle, Washington to Port Angeles, Washington but never made it." Suddenly I knew why he was so sad; my dad was on that flight.

I didn't believe it. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I knew it would've been smarter to have James carry me up but I didn't care. I ran into my room and turned my cell phone on. There were messages from people but I didn't care. I was looking for a specific message. "Hi Marissa it's Dad," I found it. "Mom found a flight for tonight and we're about to get on it now."

"No! Dad! Don't!" I screamed into the phone. "Don't get on the plane!" I knew it was no use. The message continued. "We'll probably be there early tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see you. I love you, so much and I miss you. Can't wait to see you! Love you! Bye!" I felt all the blood drain from my face. I felt the cold, wet tears stain my face. "I love you too." I whispered into the phone. My dad was dead, he wasn't coming, ever. I felt James put his arms around me. "I'm so sorry" he whispered in my ear. I felt the sobs well up in my chest but they never came to the surface. All I could do was sit on my floor with James around me trying to picture life without my dad. He's dead, they're all dead. Right then the house phone rang. I just sat there and let it ring. It rang three more times before James got up and answered it. "Hello?" He said into the receiver. "Yes, she's right here." He handed the phone to me. I looked up at him questioningly. "It's the social worker." He told me. I took the phone and before I spoke took a deep breath. "Hello?" My voice sounded tired and muffled from my stuffy nose after crying. "Marissa Youngs?"

"Yes?" There was a pause. "I'm Lauren Donohoe. I'm from the Young Adult Child Services. Do you know what happened to your family?" I had to catch my breath and try to not hyperventilate. "Yes." I whispered. "What happened?" She asked me and I bet she just asked to make sure that I really new what happened; she thought I was bluffing. "They died" I told her. "In a plane crash."  
"Yes and do you know why I'm calling you right now?" I really wanted to scream at her and tell her that I wasn't a child and that she doesn't need to talk to me like I was 5 years old. I turn 15 in a month; I can take this without her being careful. "You're here to make sure I know what's going to happen to me now; you're here to tell me what my dad wants you to do with me." I took a deep breath. "You're also the one who is going to tell me what I get from the will and how I'm going to pay for this house and who I'm going to live with and all that fun stuff." I said in a monotone voice. There was just a simple "Yes." Out of her and I think she got my point of how I wasn't a child without me even having to really say it. "I know this isn't hard and you're about to have the rollercoaster of your life right now. All I want you to do is stay there. Is there any family, friends, relatives that you can call to get over there to spend a couple of weeks with you?" I immediately thought of James. I was so swallowed up in all this I forgot that he was here. I looked around the room frantically and relaxed as soon as I saw him sitting on my bed. He saw the distressed look on my face and in a split second he was here holding me in his arms again. Then I thought of Aunt Peggy and Uncle Steve who live in Seattle. "Yes. I can call my Aunt and Uncle who live in Seattle but until they get here I can stay with my boyfriend and his family I'm sure." I looked at James and he just nodded. "Of course you can." He said. "All right, you call your Aunt and Uncle and I'm going to be on the first flight over there with most of the financial stuff figured out. I'll see you when I get there. Okay?" Said Lauren as I moved away from James to where the phone charger was. "Okay, I understand. Bye." I hung up. I put the phone away and turned back to James. He looked back at me with the deepest sadness in his eyes.

**Chapter Six **

He moved closer to me and rapped his arms around my waist and mine wound around his neck. He pulled me into a huge hug and then let go just enough so that he could see my face. "Will you come somewhere with me? I want to show you something." I just nodded my head. Hopefully he'll take me somewhere were I'll be able to temporarily escape my crumbling world. He pulled me over on to his back in a swift, fluid motion that was very gentle despite how much stronger he was than I was. The next thing I knew we were already out of the house and flying through the woods. A part of me wanted to ask where we were going but the majority of me wanted it to be a surprise and to be honest, I didn't really care where we went as long as it was away. I watched the woods go by in a green and brown blur, then as abruptly as we started, he stopped. He set me down and I looked around. It was amazing. There was a drop off and looking off of it you could see a small river flowing and flowers and wildlife all around. "It looks better in the day light but I thought you could still use a chance to get out of the house." He told me and he was right. I did need to get out. It wasn't raining so it was perfect. There were no more trees, they were all behind us and with that you could see, what seemed like the edge of the world. "It's beautiful" I gasped. "I'm glad you like it." He smiled at me. "How did you find this place?" He must've stumbled on it somehow. "Remember the first time I saw you, how I ran away?" I nodded. "Well I ran to hunt and I ran straight threw this place and on my way back actually stopped to look at it." He was looking out into the scene intensely. I looked out to where I thought he was looking. "What are you thinking about?" He asked after a minute. "My parents" I felt tears well up in my eyes "and how they would've loved to see this." I looked down not wanting him to see my face. He moved closer to me and lifted my face up with his index finger. He looked deep into my eyes; his eyes were a smoldering green. They were brighter than I had ever seen them be before. "I love you." He told me. "I love…." All of a sudden his lips crashed onto mine with a gentle intensity. I felt his tongue trace my lower lip begging for entrance. I had no patience to be hard to get today so I immediately let him in. Our tongues danced together in perfect harmony. I felt his arms tighten around my waist and I moved to put mine around his neck. He pulled me in so that our bodies were smashed against each other. But all too soon he pulled away; both of us out of breath even though he didn't need to breathe. He let me go just enough to look at me again and then pulled me back for a hug.

We just stood there embracing for a while then I pulled away this time. "Speaking of parents" I said lightly "When do I get to meet yours?" I smiled, but his response was not a light one. "You really want to meet them now?" He frowned. "Why not?" I was confused. Why wouldn't he want me to meet his parents? He just looked out into the scene again. This time the sun was beginning to rise. I hadn't noticed that it was so late…well early actually. Then randomly I yawned. I didn't know why, I wasn't tired. I didn't even know if I could sleep right now. He noticed the sun too. "I think we better get you back so you can get some sleep. You can go see them later today if you want." This time he gave me a weak smile. I didn't understand why he wouldn't want me to meet them now but I found I was tired and too tired to argue. I sighed. "Alright, but you'll stay with me right?!" My heart started racing. Sleeping all alone in that house without him? I don't think so! He heard my heart and put his hands on my shoulders. "I promise I will never leave you." Then his face twisted. "Well other than the times when it's absolutely necessary." I knew he meant when he would have to go away to hunt and I was fine with that. I know I cause him pain and I would hate to make him feel any worse if he felt like he has to stay even when he needs to leave for my safety. "But even then," he continued "I'll have Rebeka or Sarah with you to watch you." Then he kissed the top of my head and I was on his back in the next instant. Again I watched the trees go by and within, what felt like seconds, we were back in my room. He set me down on my bed and I pulled myself under the covers and fluffed my pillows. He lay next to me on top of the covers so I wouldn't get too cold and kissed me gently on the lips. "I'll be right here. I'm not going anywhere." He promised and I felt my eyes close the moment my head hit the pillow.

I knew I was unconscious now; my dad was here. He was on the drop off with me and James. He was talking with us about our plans for the future then all of a sudden he gets up. I get up with him and so does James. My dad comes to give me a great big hug and gives James a handshake. "You take care of my little girl" He told James. "She's safe with me." James smiled. I watch him get closer and closer to the edge of the drop off. I watched him give me one last smile and then walk right off the cliff. "NOOOO!!!" I screamed myself awake. James immediately wrapped his arms around me and I started crying and found I was drenched in sweat. "James, my dad! He, he just walked right off the cliff! James." I sobbed. I just sat there in his arms crying my eyes out and he sat there with me trying to sooth me with words like "it's alright, I'm here" and "it was just a dream". But it wasn't just a dream, my dad was dead and he wasn't ever coming back. That was the hard truth and I was going to have to face it not matter how much it hurt.

**Chapter Seven**

In James' arms, I cried myself back to sleep. When I woke up, he was just holding me and staring at me. "What," My voice was all scratchy so I cleared my throat. "What are you staring at?" He gave me a very puzzled look. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but thought about it and decided against it. I knew that he was going to ask something along the lines of "are you alright" or "how are you feeling" but I bet he could sense that I didn't want to talk about last night. He pulled me in closer and kissed the top of my head. Then suddenly he was up and at my window. "What?" I asked. I didn't like him so far away. I needed him near me. "Hush." He hushed me. I scowled at him but when I looked more carefully at his face, he looked mad. I wondered what could possibly make him react like that. He turned away from the window and there was a scowl on his face. "Did you listen to all of your messages on your cell phone when you last checked it?"

"No. I was too frantic to get to my dads," I couldn't help but grimace. I had to bite my lip hard to keep back the tears that threatened to make it to the surface. "message to listen to anyone else's. Why?" He just looked out the window one more time livid. Then the door bell rang. I looked at the clock; it was 11:00am. Wow I didn't sleep for very long. Who would be coming now? I ran to my bathroom and checked how I looked in the mirror. I looked like hell. My hair was a bee's nest on the top of my head and the bags under my eyes were horrifying. I huffed a breath of defeat as the door bell rang again only this time there were two short impatient ones. I made do with running a comb through my hair and I splashed water on my face and started to run to the stairs. James picked me up then and ran me down the stairs with me in his arms bridal style. He set me down right in front of the door. I hadn't noticed that I was still in my old sweat pants and tank top that I had been wearing for two days now. Once I was done here I was going to take a nice hot shower. There was another ring of the bell but this time it was longer. Like someone was holding it down. I hastily opened the door and when I did, I saw the last person I would have expected to be here.

"Uh, hi." Sourosh said awkwardly. He looked me up and down and I could tell that he was surprised by what he saw. "Did you get my message? I hope I didn't wake you up. I tried to call to make sure I didn't surprise you by coming here but your phone wasn't on and…" He began talking fast but about halfway through his sentence he looked at James and slowed down. He eventually trailed off. I looked at James. His expression was livid. Probably something Sourosh was thinking was pissing him off. "Why don't you go back up to my room? This won't take long." I tried to push James away from the door. It was a wasted effort, he just stood there. He was so much stronger than I was. "The hell it will." He didn't even look down at me. He just glared at Sourosh. "Stop it, James. Go upstairs." I ordered at him. "I'll come to you in a little while." I added in a softer tone. I turned to face James completely and towed him inside, this time he humored me. "You'll know if I need you're help. Try to be patient with him and have self control. Please try to ignore what he says or thinks. If it's too much for you then you can come…or if it gets too much for me." I whispered to him. He didn't speak. He just nodded and the next thing I knew, he was gone.

I went back to the door way and held the door open for Sourosh to come in who was still standing there looking dumbfounded. "Who is that?" He finally asked staring off up the stairs where James had disappeared to. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at his reaction to James. "That's my boyfriend." I told him, not trying to hide any of the smugness that radiated out of my voice at the word 'boyfriend'. I didn't really like the way I had to use the word though. I'd much rather say 'my soul mate' or 'the love of my existence' but that would sound a little odd with this conversation. He looked back at me, his eyes bulging. "What? But you just moved here." He asked incredulously. "Yes which brings me to my next point; why are you here?" This time I didn't try to hide the pure annoyance in my tone and he noticed. He grimaced at my words. "You never told me you were leaving and well I wanted to talk to you. I tried calling you but you wouldn't answer and you didn't return them. I also left you messages on Myspace and Facebook but you never got online."

"So you come to my house in Washington?!" Now I was angry. Who did he think he was? "I just wanted to say I'm sorry and that I want you back. And I told you I called to tell you I was coming." He said in his defense. "YOU WANT ME BACK?! You screwed me over and you think I'm going to come back to you after what you did?! I loved you I really did. I gave you everything I had! I gave you the most precious thing a girl could give to a guy! I gave you my virtue, my virginity! And you took it, ripped it, stepped on it, spit on it and took a crap on it! You pretty much did everything to it accept return the favor. I didn't tell you I was leaving for a reason. I wanted you gone. You broke my heart and now I have someone better. Go home. Go away and never talk to me again." At this point I had started to cry and cry hard. The next second James was at my side. I didn't care what he did with Sourosh now. All I wanted was to go crawl in a whole and die. Everything was so wrong.

**Chapter Eight**

I heard a faint "Ow" as James got rid of Sourosh. I honestly didn't care how James handled Sourosh. I couldn't feel my legs as they fell out from underneath me and I flew up the main staircase to my room. James silently laid me on my bed. I buried my face in my pillow; hiding my shame. I hadn't meant for James to know any of that. I had left that in Maryland and I was never planning on remembering it ever again. Some part of me knew that I should've told him and I was going to have to tell him eventually but I never wanted him to find out this way.

The sobs kept coming and coming. I couldn't get a grasp on them. It felt like I'd been crying forever once I was finally able to talk again. "I'm s-s-so s-s-sorry." I managed to get out. I felt his cool fingers brush the hair away from my face. "Shh. Please don't apologize. I shouldn't have let you talk with him. I could see where his thoughts were going." I looked up at him in, what was shock at first, then realization. That must have been what he was so upset about in the beginning. His face was full of anger and regret. I frowned at him. _He _wasn't the one who was supposed to look that way. I was. It was me who has the disturbing secrets, well I guess not so secret anymore. I touched the crease between his eyes. He closed his eyes with a sigh at my touch and all the anger vanished. All I could do is stare at his beauty. "What are you thinking?" He asked me opening his eyes. I continued to stare at him. His amazingly gorgeous dark emerald eyes went pleading. "Please. It kills me to not know what's going on in your mind." His voice was thick with desperation to know what thoughts were going through my mind. I knew how much it hurt him to not be able to read my mind. "I was just wondering how you could be taking the blame for this. I didn't want you to find out like that. I'm sorry." I looked down; ashamed of myself. He lifted my face with his index finger under my chin. I tried as hard as I could to not make eye contact with him but to no prevail; his face dipped to get me to make eye contact. "You have _nothing_ to apologize for." He made each word distinct; pausing for an eighteenth of a second to make each word emphasized. I felt my eyes get a little teary. I closed my eyes and I felt one tear streak down my face. He put my face in both of his hands and wiped the tear from my cheek with his thumb. Then he gently pressed his lips to mine. It was a soft closed mouth kiss; longer than a peck but shorter than an open mouthed kiss. It was a kiss of pure love and understanding. "You don't have to be ashamed of your past Marissa." He looked deep into my eyes and it seemed as if he was looking into my soul. "Trust me; I have a past, also, that I am not particularly proud of. But I don't care about your past. All I care about is the present and the future that we're going to have together. I love you and that's all that matters now."

He pressed his lips to mine again but this time his tongue traced my lower lip; begging for entrance. And I didn't reject the proposal. Our tongues danced together rhythmically like they had before only now there was a strange lustful feeling to this kiss. I had no idea what it could mean until he started to remove his button up shirt. I didn't stop him. I knew what he was going for and I wasn't about to object. I helped him take off his shirt; once it was off I let my hands wander down his chest. I could feel the stone hard abs. I tried to count in my head how many there was, but it was hard to concentrate on anything but how to breathe and the moment. I couldn't be sure but I thought that I felt eight abs. He then moved his lips from my lips down to my neck and started to nibble on it. I let out an involuntary gasp which I could tell set him off. I felt him lay on top of me and he had his weight supported somewhere because his hands were a little busy curiously wandering my body but I could only feel his cold hard chest on mine but none of the crushing weight I thought I would feel. For the rest of the night we fit together in what seemed like an effortless puzzle. Made to go together like PB&J. Perfect, absolutely perfect.

It was amazing; the feeling of being so absolutely in love. My first time was horrible compared to this. I felt myself get attached to James in a way that I hadn't even felt with Sourosh.

**Chapter Nine**

I was caked in sweat despite how cold his skin was against mine. Even though he didn't need to breathe, we were both gasping for air. He pressed his lips to mine one more time then sighed, pulled the thick fluffy comforter over me and kissed my forehead. I was so happy. "Now _that_ was what my first time should have been like." I whispered to him. He had a small pleased smile on his face when I pulled myself onto his hard cold chest. We just lay there for a while. I tried to listen for his heart then remembered that it wouldn't be beating. I just sighed in contentment. "It was amazing wasn't it?" He asked. "Mmm." I agreed. Then I couldn't help but yawn. "You should sleep. You've had a very…" He paused trying to find the right words. "eventful day." I frowned. "I don't think I'm really ready to go to sleep just yet." I wasn't that tired. Plus I had other things I wanted to do before I went to sleep. As to make my point, my stomach growled. I heard him chuckle. "Alright, so I'll get you something to eat and then you'll go to sleep?" I thought about that for a minute. I wasn't exactly done getting what I wanted from him yet but I thought I had the perfect plan to get him to keep going with what we had just stopped doing. "Alright, fine." He sat up and had his pants on within the same second. "What would the human like to eat?" He asked me making his voice sound like a waiter from some expensive European restaurant; with the accent and everything. "Hmm, how about pancakes?" I suggested. "Anything for you my love." He smiled, but it wasn't an innocent smile. I don't even think it was a smile; it was more of a smirk. It made me remember that I hadn't fully gotten what I wanted from him yet. I couldn't help but smirk back. I hated the fact that I had to eat and sleep when he never had to. If I was like him, a vampire, we wouldn't need to be interrupted. He bent down to kiss my forehead and disappeared through my door to make me pancakes.

I decided that I would follow him downstairs to watch him cook, but mostly because I couldn't stand to not be around him. So I got out of the bed, went to my walk in closet and pulled on my silk robe and a pair of panties. Not even worrying about putting on a shirt or a bra, knowing that our fun wasn't over; not by a long shot.

But by the time I was at my door ready to walk downstairs to him, he was already there with the pancakes in hand with butter and syrup on a tray with a glass of milk. He even had a little pink flower on the side of the tray. "Miss me already?" He asked me as he put the tray in one hand and picked me up but my waist with the other. He laid me carefully on the bed and pulled the covers back over me and put the tray in my lap. "Eat up my amazing gorgeous Rissa." I was starting to butter my pancakes when I looked up at him confused. Rissa? Did he give me a nickname? I smiled. "Is that my new nickname?" He looked like he was hurt for a split second but then smiled at how I asked the question like I liked it; which I did. "Yes. I was thinking about it downstairs. I love your name but giving you a nickname, in my mind at least, kind of makes you mine. It gives me a title on you." He told me and looked down like he was ashamed of his reason. I thought it was cute. I also loved the idea of me belonging to him. I also loved the name Rissa; it suited me. He sat on the bed next to me and I pulled him closer. Well I didn't really pull him closer because I wasn't even remotely strong enough to do that, but he felt what I was trying to do and moved closer to me so that I was able to look into his amazing dark emerald eyes. Which, to my surprise, were almost black. "I love the nickname." I told him. I knew he could hear the sincerity in my voice. "Good, I'm glad." He gave me a quick kiss. "But you need to eat." He told me as he started to fix the mess my hair was in. "You need to eat so you can get to sleep because I was under the impression that you wanted to meet my family? And I think the sooner the better so you can get close with Rebeka or Sarah so I can have you stay with them while I go hunt. I want to make a last trip before school starts." I just started at him dumbfounded. There were so many topics in that sentence that I wanted to focus on but the main thing he said was the last part. The school part. When does school start? Had it been that long since I moved here? It was early July when we moved here. I could feel myself panicking. "What? When does school start?!" I all but shrieked at him. I couldn't handle school right now. It was too soon! He could hear my heart accelerate. "School doesn't start for another two months. Please relax. I'm sorry; I didn't mean to scare you." He said in a soothing tone.

**Chapter Ten**

I took three deep breaths. I didn't know how I could let myself think I didn't have any time left. It was stupid to act that way. Suddenly, my face felt hot with embarrassment. James felt the heat on my face. His cool hands felt good on my hot, pink skin. I closed my eyes at his touch. I couldn't help but let out a small sigh.

I kept my eyes closed as he picked me up gently still keeping one hand on my face. He lifted me off the bed into his arms bridal style and hugged me close. "I love you" he whispered into my ear. "I love you too" I responded seconds before his lips came crashing down on mine with an intense passion. We were both gasping when he pulled away. I turned my lips down into a playful pout. "I wasn't finished with you yet." I whined. He looked down at me with his dark emerald eyes, smiled and chuckled at me. The smile was amazing and the chuckle sounded like deep bells on top of a church but the way he looked at me made my heart skip about 4 beats.


End file.
